The New Street Style: Is Fashion Peacocking Dead?

At first glance, this season seemed just like the others: The streets were full of the same loud designer-dud-sporting, post-show patrons, posing in all of their sidewalk (and traffic!) clogging glory, crowded around by street style photographers and gawked at by passerby. But there was something different about it this time around—the reactions weren’t the same. Maybe there was more eye-rolling at the done-up, the attention-thirsty. Maybe it was just that it was really, really cold this February in New York, and dressing for anything but warmth looked really, well, desperate. ​The real admiring focus was on looks that were relatable, real, that proved more chops than those donated by a fashion house as a promotional freebie—more “I really look like this” than “look at me!” The result? There was a focus on neutrals—especially in New York and London—boldfaced names like Giovanna Battaglia donning a staple Balenciaga shearling coat, or Natasha Goldenberg’s J.W.Anderson trench. There were also monochromatic waves of gray—the oft-photographed Sarah Harris opted for a look of ease in a chiaroscuro-blotted poncho (and it’s by now no secret that fashion editors typically dress, well, normally)—and Lauren Remington Platt was stellar in a furry gray coat.

Where there were warmer temperatures, which usually is a cue for showgoers to let their sartorial freak flag fly, the looks, though a bit louder in shocking shades, were still more low-key than usual. Street style maven Miroslava Duma was sleek and polished in a royal blue peplum jacket, while model Grace Bol stunned in a tailored red coat. Of course, there are still (and have always been) fashion enthusiasts with consistently outré tastes, from Anna Dello Russo to Hanne Gaby Odiele, in her Comme des Garçons coat, or Linda Tol in a head-to-toe pastel blue suit. But here’s the thing: That’s how they actually dress​, every day, even when a mosh pit of street style photographers isn’t pointing their cameras at them. And that’s the coolest look of all.